1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of measuring devices which are used to measure the growing height of a child so that a record can be kept on a periodic basis as to how quickly the child has grown and what height the child has achieved by a certain age and date.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Height is an important measurement for assessing the fitness of a person. A number of traditional height measuring devices have been developed in the art. These devices help the person to record progressive increases in height. Most conventional height measuring systems adopt a method in which a person stands against a wall and the person's height is marked on the wall. Such markings will fade over time and become lost.
The following four prior art patents are relevant to the present invention:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,524 issued to Allen on Feb. 22, 1977 for “GROWTH MEASURING SCALE” (hereafter the “Allen Patent”).
2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,521 issued to Hutchinson et al. on Apr. 8, 1980 for “HEIGHT MEASURING DEVICE’ (hereafter the “Hutchinson Patent”).
3. U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,881 issued to Landauer on May 8, 2001 for “HEIGHT-MEASURING DEVICE” (hereafter the “Landauer Patent”).
4. U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,060 issued to Baumgartner on Jun. 13, 2006 for “DEVICE FOR RECORDING EVENTS AND MEASURING GROWTH IN AN INDIVIDUAL'S LIFE” (hereafter the “Baumgartner Patent”).
The Allen Patent discloses a wall mountable height measuring device which is designed to measure the height of several different children. The measuring device enables the user to measure a child's height and then a screw is screwed into the device to memorialize that the child's height was that specific height. There is no mechanism by which the date is recorded or stamped to be able to determine the date that the child was measured at a given height. Therefore, someone would have to separately record on a separate piece of paper or on a notebook what the date was when that height was taken and also separately record the name of the specific child. With respect to the technique in the Allen Patent, the name of the child is not listed but instead, a child is designated by a given color so that the screw that is screwed into the device is of the same color, for example, Nancy may be blue, Erie may be green, etc. It is a very inefficient and poor way of recording the height growth of a child because the date of the height measurement and the specific child's name for whom the height was recorded is not in an integral unit which is easy to locate and determine. Therefore, confusion can easily arise by somebody accidentally writing in a date of height based on color and accidentally using the wrong name because they misinterpreted the color that was assigned to that child.
The Hutchinson Patent describes a height measuring device that includes telescopically arranged measuring rods with faces containing parallel vertical columns of different types of height measuring units such as English measuring units and metric measuring units. However, this height measuring device is quite heavy and hence not portable.
The Landauer Patent describes a height-measuring device that is foldable, or collapsible, on itself, in order to provide an easier and less-costly method of packaging and shipping. The height measuring device consists of an extensible leg or setup section that is mounted in the rear of the scale-part. The extensible leg has a length equal to the lowest measurement reading of the scale-section. The bottom edge surface of the scale-part can be readily located during installation of the height measuring device. However, the device has no arrangement to record the date at which the height measurement was taken.
The Baumgartner Patent describes a device for recording both chronological events and physical growth events of an individual or group of individuals. The device includes a linear measuring device having at least first and second opposed sides. The first side has a linear measurement scale inscribed thereon and at least one recording surface associated therewith. The second side has a chronological scale, preferably in months and years, inscribed thereon and also has at least one recording surface associated with the chronological scale. Thus, physical growth can be measured on the first side and recorded on the recording surface associated therewith as the individual or several individuals grow. Significant events such as the date of height measurement can be recorded on the other side. However, this device has two separate sides for measuring height and date and both measurements cannot be recorded simultaneously. Further, the device is not wall mountable.
There is, however, a significant need for an improved height measuring device which is easily portable so that it can be transferred from one location to another and can be removably affixed to a vertical surface such as a wall and can also be transported so that it remains in a pristine condition to accurately record the height change of a person on a given date.